Full Bloom (My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent Continuation)
by kamrynrose
Summary: A year has past and Turtle is starting to return to normal life, not that her's ever was. She is about to go back to school, but before that she reunited with the man she loves, and gets hit with some devastating news.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Anna is driving us to the dance. I put on a nice outfit, but definitely not a dress. I'm really nervous to see him, but I really have missed him this past year. I hope that he's gonna be excited to see me.

We are driving into the parking lot and I can feel my cheeks getting hotter and hotter. We finally park and I'm too scared to actually open the door and go in.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Anna says

"Yes." I tell her.

We are walking into the school, and it's a lot different than I remember. I stay behind Anna because she knows where to go, and I don't really want to be noticed by anyone yet. I just need to see him. As we walk into the gym, I instantly spot him from across the room.

"I'm going to go say hi to him, okay?"

"Yeah, go ahead. I'll be over here if you need me."

As I make my way to him I get even more nervous than I already was. When I'm almost there, I run into Brett.

"Oh my gosh, Turtle I haven't seen you in forever! How are you?" he says.

"I'm doing a lot better, thanks."

I make sure that he is still across the room when Brett notices who I am looking at.

"Go ahead, we can catch up later." Brett says.

"Thank you, and we should all hang out really soon. Just text me when."

I continue my way towards him and when I'm almost there we make eye contact and he starts making his way towards me.

"Hi Turtle"

"Hi Jacob"

Without saying anything else, we hug and it feels so great to actually be in his arms again. I'm usually not a touchy person but I don't mind this. I feel more comfortable than I have in a long time. After what feels like a lifetime, we back up and just stare at each other. It's a little bit of an awkward stare and I don't really know what to say to him. Maybe he will say something first. He doesn't, so I guess I will.

"How've you been?" I say.

He is still just staring at me. Maybe I chose the wrong thing to say. But what else should I say, I really do want to know how he is.

"I'm good. I really missed you." he says.

"I really missed you too. But I think the time apart was very much needed. I never wanted you to see me like that." I say.

After saying that his expression softens because we both know that this last year I have been in and out of the hospital. Just thinking back, I am glad that all of those tubes and bandages are gone. All they were was reminders of my dad and what he did to me, but also what I did to him.

"I know that, but it didn't make it any easier. I couldn't stop thinking about you, and if you were okay." he says.

"I really am, I promise"

"Want to dance?" he says

"I would love to."

Just as we step onto the dance floor a slow song starts to play and I wrap my hands around his neck and he rested his hands on my waist. I lay my head on his shoulder and we sway to the music. When I looked up I could see Anna and Brett smiling at us, so I smile back at them.

"I think they are happy we are back together." Jacob says

"Not as happy as me."

We stay like this for a while, even when the songs speed up. It feels like we were there for hours, which after looking at the clock, I figured out that it had been. The dance was ending and I could see that Anna was ready to leave so I pull away from Jacob.

"I should get going. Anna is waiting for me."

"I should get going too. My mom said I needed to be home by midnight. But we should hang out tomorrow so we can catch up." he says

"Yeah we should. I told Brett earlier that we all should so just text me where and when."

I hug him goodbye and I walk over to Anna as he finds Brett and leaves.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Anna and I leave the gym and start heading home. I can't help but smile to myself when thinking about the last few hours. I haven't been this happy in a long time. I thought that I was going to be nervous by all the lights and loud music, but something about being with him makes it all seem like no big deal.

I look over at Anna and start to think about how much help she has been for me this past year, and to think I started off by hating her. She had always tried to help me, and make sure that I was okay, but that was a time in my life where I didn't want any help because I thought that I was fine and that everything was perfect. I turned out to be so wrong. She is the only thing that got me through this past year. There is a love that I feel for her that I cannot describe. I thought I loved my dad, but what I feel towards her is so different compared to that, and I'm not sure now if I ever loved him. I try not to think about him because it just makes me sad, but mostly angry. Then I start to think about that night, and how terrified I was.

We pull up into the garage, and we get out of the car. When we get inside and go into the kitchen, Anna is staring at me from across the counter.

"Why are you staring at me?" I say to her.

"No reason, just looking at you." She says with a big smile on her face.

"Well goodnight then." I say laughing.

"Goodnight" She says.

Everytime I go into my room I like to admire it because I have never had a proper room before. My old room was dirty, and all I had was a mattress on the floor and a trunk full of my clothes. I still have the trunk. It's at the end of my bed. I couldn't leave it there because my grandpa gave it to me and I really miss him. I just keep some of the stuff I don't really use in there, including the knife my grandpa gave me too. Of course it is still a little broken because of what my dad did to it, but I'll never get rid of it. It's too special.

I get changed into some pajamas and get into bed. I'm just staring at the ceiling thinking because I still have trouble sleeping. They tried to give me sleeping pills but I don't like the way they make me feel, so Anna said I don't have to take them. As I lay here I start to think about that night and how much I am glad that my dad is gone forever. I try not to think about it, because it was the worst night of my life. Then I start to think about Cayenne and I hope that she is doing good with her aunt and uncle in Arizona. They seemed like nice people but I still worry about her because her family hasn't always treated her the best. That is after all how my dad ended up finding her and bringing her home. After a few minutes I feel my eyes getting heavier and I start to drift off to sleep.

When I wake up in the morning, I smile to myself thinking about what happened last night. It really was the happiest I have been in a long time.

I get out of bed and walk into the kitchen for some breakfast to find Anna already in there eating some cereal, so I get my own bowl and join her.

"What are your plans for today?" I ask her.

"Nothing exciting, I have a lot of grading to do. What are you doing today?"

"I think I'm going to hang out with Jacob and Brett. I'm just waiting for them to text me and let me know where they want to meet up."

"Oooo, that sounds fun. Just let me know before you leave, and if you need a ride."

"Okay, I will"

I walk back into my room and get ready to take a shower. As I'm walking to the bathroom I hear a ding from my phone. I walked back to my room to check the message and it's Jacob saying that we are going to meet in 2 hours at the coffee shop in town we always went to. I reply saying okay, and head back to the shower.

Once I finish my shower I start to get dressed but I don't know what I should wear. I normally don't care what I wear but I want to look a little nicer than usual, so I put on some black jeans, with a nice olive green top, and my vans of course because those will never change. I go into the bathroom to fix my hair and actually brush it so it isn't in it's normal state of lion's mane. I still have an hour before I need to meet them but I am going to walk, so I'll just leave now.

"Bye Anna, I'm leaving!"

"See you later, be careful!"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I walk out the door and shut it behind me. I start walking down the street towards the coffee shop. It's about two miles so I should be there right when Brett and Jacob get there. As I'm walking, I start to think about what we are going to talk about. I just hope that they aren't going to ask about my dad because I don't think I am ready to talk about it with both of them yet. Brett was there when it happened so I don't think he will ask, but Jacob was not there and might ask about it. Hopefully he asked Brett sometime this past year, so he knows and won't need to ask me. I know though, that if he asked I would probably tell him. After all, if it wasn't for him none of it would have happened.

I'm halfway there when I think about how I met them in the first place. It's a really funny story actually. I remember wandering the woods to get away from my dad and hearing two guys laughing. When I went to go see what was going on, I saw them and knew that I needed to see where they were going, so I followed them. After some time, I realised that they were getting more and more lost, so I decided to reveal myself so I can help them. But then a big storm came through, so we were forced to set up camp for the night. In the morning, and after long conversations of me defending myself of not being a ninja, we made it to Brett's house and his mom gave me a ride back to my house. His mom turned out to be friends with my dad, so he seemed okay when she dropped me off, but as soon as she left he got really mad at me. But I will always remember that as the time I met my best friends.

I am just 5 minutes from the coffee shop and I find myself once again getting a little nervous. I don't know why this happens to me now, but it is really annoying. I hate this feeling. It goes away once I see them but the time before that, I just can't deal with it. When I walk inside, I see them sitting in the back at a table with one empty chair. I walk towards them and that's when they see me, and both of them smile. I get to the table and I see that they already ordered for me. So I sit down and take a sip. It's still as good as I remember.

"Your order hasn't changed right?" Brett asks

"No, this is perfect." I say. When I get comfortable in my chair, I realise that they are both staring at me. "What?" I say, but they just keep staring at me.

"We just haven't hung out with you in a year, so it is different for you to be here with us." Jacob says. After he said that, I felt a little bit like I was intruding on their new normal routine. I know he didn't mean it that way but I can't help but feel like that. Maybe I should say how I'm feeling, that is what Dr. Greene said I should do. "If you guys like it that way better, then I don't mind leaving, I know I've been gone a while and I don't expect you guys to just include me and have things go back to how they used to be." I said as I started to stand up and leave.

As I am standing each of them grab one of my arms and pull me back down to sit. "Don't be ridiculous Turtle, I didn't mean it like that, and plus if we didn't want you here, we wouldn't have invited you." Jacob says with a big smile on his face, and when I look at Brett, he has the same cheesy smile. I roll my eyes at both of them.

We spent the next three hours catching up and laughing about everything, just like we used to. We talked about school and how none of us really want to go back, but I really missed them and talking like this. I had been more than a year because I stopped hanging out with them when my dad came back with Cayenne, and I pushed them away.

"So can we talk about what happened last year? I know that you may not want to talk about it but we care about you, and we just want to know what happened and make sure you're okay." Jacob says. When he said this I instantly stiffened and probably looked really red in the face. I didn't know if he was going to ask, but it's a good thing I prepared myself for him asking just in case.

"What do you want to know?" I say.

"Well I've heard about what happened when you got to my house, but that was just gossip I think, so could you just say the whole thing. Like what happened before everything at my house and during it."

"If I must." I say. Then I told them what happened starting with my dad trying to do things to Cayenne and then me taking my gun into his room to try and stop him, where I hesitated and he choked me, badly bruising my trachea. After I broke free, I picked up the gun and shot him. Then I took Cayenne in the truck and drove away. I knew that my dad wasn't dead and I thought that he was going to look for me at your house Jacob, so I decided to stay at the end of my driveway and if he came out, I would have shot him. But after waiting for a few hours, he hadn't left yet, so I decided to go to Jacobs house anyway. Once I got there, I realized that I couldn't talk, so I probably looked crazy. I was still worried because I knew my dad would show up anyway, so I was looking for Jacob to get him out of the house. But when I got there his sister was throwing a party and all I saw was Brett. I ran to him and was trying to ask him where Jacob is, and he told me that he wasn't there because he didn't want to be at a party.

I relaxed slightly knowing that Jacob wasn't there, but I still needed all of these people to leave because my dad was coming. I couldn't speak to tell Brett was was going on. All of the people at the party were looking at me like I was crazy, so I figured there was nothing to lose and I wrote the word run on the wall in blood. After that they all screamed and ran out, except for Brett and Cayenne. I pushed her towards him and tried to tell him to take her and leave, but he wouldn't listen and said he wasn't going anywhere. As this is going on, I heard a car pull up and I knew that he was here. I pushed Brett and Cayenne into the other room so they hopefully wouldn't get hurt.

I hid behind a wall so I could sneak up on him and attack him, because I knew he would have a gun and try to kill me and whoever was there. He took a long time to get out of his car and walk up, but I heard him walking on the porch, and I expected him to walk in, but he started shooting at the house, and then came in. This part gets a little blurred but I remember being shot and somehow ending up outside, which is where I ended up killing my father.

When I finished the story, I felt nervous, because besides talking to the police, I hadn't told anyone about the full story. But I trust them with everything, so hopefully they won't think of me differently. I just sit there for a second, catching my breath because that was a lot to say, and I probably talked too fast.

They just stared at me for a second and then Jacob finally says "wow, that is not what people have been saying. It is a lot less dramatic than they all said."

"I tried to tell you, dude these people twisted it, but you didn't listen to me." Brett says. "Well I needed to hear it from her before I believed anything." Jacob said.

"Now that we know what happened, can we please never speak of it again?" I ask. They both nodded their heads at my question. I felt so relieved talking about it, but I definitely don't ever want to do that again. After we talked a little longer, I decided we should probably leave because it was almost getting dark. We all packed up our stuff and started to walk out, and they offered me a ride. Apparently in the last year, Jacob got a car and can drive now so that is really nice. Brett lets me sit in the front, and he goes in the back and puts in his headphones because he hates the music that Jacob plays. He is a little dramatic. It's about a 15 minute drive back to my house. Jacob tells me that we should hang out just me and him tomorrow, and I agree. I say goodbye to them and head into the house.

As soon as I step in I see Anna sitting in the living room, and she looks a little worried. "What's wrong?" I ask.

"It's Cayenne, her aunt and uncle got arrested and she was put into foster care until they figure out where she can go." and with those words, my heart sank.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

It's the next morning, and I still can't believe what happened last night. After Anna told me, we talked for a while to try and figure out what we can do. Our plan is to have Anna get her license to foster, and then we can try to get Cayenne to live with us, and if Anna and Cayenne both want it, she can be adopted. Anna was able to get custody of me straight away, so she never had to get a foster license, so today she is going to look into seeing what the process is.

I'm really worried for her and I just want to make sure that she is safe. Hopefully the process isn't long because I really need to make sure she is okay. Anna told me not to stress about it and that she will handle it and make sure she gets here, but that's easier said than done.

Jacob texts me saying that he was going to pick me up for lunch at 1, so I need to get ready. I was going to reschedule because of everything, but I think talking to him about it will help me. So I got ready, and now I'm just sitting on the couch waiting for him to get here. I'm excited to go out with him, I just wish that there weren't any problems going on, so I can truly enjoy it. There is a knock at the door, so I go and open it, and there stands Jacob with a single sunflower.

"Aw, thank you Jacob." I say as I take it inside and put it on the kitchen counter

"You're welcome. Are you ready to get going?"

"Yes, just let me grab my bag."

We walk out and he opens the car door for me. He said that it was a surprise of where we were going, so I am a little curious. It was a bit of a drive, and along the way I figured out we were going to this beach that we all used to hang out at. We finally get there and I am hoping that he brought some food, because I am really hungry. We get out of the car and he goes to the trunk and pulls out a backpack. We are walking towards the beach when he interlocks his fingers with mine and smiles at me. We get to the sand and he pulls a blanket out of his backpack and lays it on the sand. We sit down on the blanket and he pulls out some sandwiches, chips, and fruit so I dig right in.

"Thank you for all this, it's really nice." I say

"You're welcome, I wanted to make it special."

"I have some bad news." I say

"What's wrong?" He says concerningly

"Last night they called Anna and told her that Cayenne's aunt and uncle were arrested and she's with a foster until they figure out what to do. Anna is going to get her license to foster so that we can try and bring her here."

"Oh my gosh Julia, I'm so sorry" he says as he leans over and hugs me.

The second he hugs me I feel my eyes start to water, and all my emotions just hit me all at once. We stay like this for some time, and it feels good to just cry. I can't remember the last time I cried. I always held everything in because I always had to be strong and never show let my dad see any of my weaknesses. But now that I have someone who I can be real with, I never want this feeling to go away. I pulled away from him and wiped my tears away.

"Okay, enough of that. Let's eat." I say.

"Are you sure? You can talk to me about anything."

"I know, and I feel better. I just want to eat right now, I'm really hungry." I say.

We eat all the food he brought and just talk about everything. I told him how I am nervous to go back to school. I have been keeping up with all my work but I had been doing it at home, but now I'm going to go back to school in January. I don't know how people are going to react with me being back, and I told him how I am scared. He reassured me that he would be there and Brett would too and that they wouldn't let anything happen. I am extremely thankful for both of them, and I know that they will always be here for me.

After we ate and talked for a while longer, it was getting really cold so we decided it was time to go. So we walked back to the car and started the journey back to my house. We talked more in the car, and then we finally got back to my house. He walked me to the front door, and we stopped in front of it. He was leaning in to me, and all of a sudden the door swings open and Anna pops out of it.

"Hey guys, you're back!" She says

Jacob and I look at each other and just laugh because of Anna. I say goodnight to Jacob and he leaves and goes back to his car. As I walk into the house Anna is just standing there and smiling at me.

"Sorry I ruined the moment, I just felt like I had to." She says.

"It's alright, I get it. I'm going to go shower and get ready for bed."

"Okay, goodnight."

I go and walk into the bathroom and get undressed and get into the shower. I had a really good time today, better than I've had in a long time. He makes me really happy. Anna kind of ruined the moment, but I get now that she meant well. If that happened with my dad, I would be in so much trouble with him. But the way Anna did it really shows me that she actually cares. Everything she does is done with thoughtfulness, and it's something I've never had before and now I know it's really something I missed out on. I try not to think back too much because those times were so horrible, and I'm so grateful for what I have now. But I also need to think back because the people I have now got me through those times, especially Jacob and Anna.

I sometimes think back to when I first met her. She was my eighth grade english teacher and I absolutely hated her. I had no reason to hate her, but I did. All she wanted to do was teach me and make sure I was learning in a way that fit me, and I didn't care and thought she was the biggest snake I had ever met. At that time she got me in a lot of trouble with my dad because she was telling the principle that I needed extra help so they called my dad and he was super upset with me, Anna and the principle. But over time I just stopped going to school so it didn't matter anymore.

I got out of the shower and then started to realize how tired I was, so I brushed my teeth and hair and went to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I woke up this morning still worried about Cayenne. They called and said that her new foster family is really nice, but I think they say that about everyone so that we won't worry. But I really hope they are, so that she will be alright staying there until she is able to come and live with us.

I walk out into the empty kitchen, and start to cook up some breakfast. I decided to make some eggs and bacon for Anna too. We usually don't have good breakfasts, maybe just some toast and orange juice. But I feel like today is going to be a good day, so we should have a good breakfast. I just finished cooking everything when Anna walks into the kitchen and I hand her the plate. She says thank you and we sit down at the table and eat our food. When we finished up everything I wanted to talk to her about Cayenne, so as she took our dishes to the sink I asked her what she was going to do today.

"Since I already did the application and orientation, I just need to get CPR and First Aid certified and do some training, then they will do a home visit sometime next week to make sure that she can stay here. So hopefully, she will be here within the next week or two." She says

"We need to go get some stuff for her so that she can stay in my room with me." I say.

"Oh yeah, that too. We can go get some stuff later today after I finish up everything. I'm going to go get ready because the trainings are at 10." she says.

"Ok, I'm going to get space ready for her stuff. Text me when you're on your way back so I know to be ready."

I went to my room and tried to figure out which way I should set it up. I figured out that it would make most sense to have each of our beds against opposite walls, so there is more space in the middle for anything else we have. I cleared out the whole side for her, but we will need another dresser because the one I have is small and full. I heard Anna leave about an hour ago, so hopefully she is almost done because I really just want everything to move faster. She keeps reminding me that this process usually takes months and that we are lucky the judge is letting her do it faster because he is familiar with our whole situation and wants the best for Cayenne too. When we went to see him, he felt a little bad that he sent Cayenne to stay with them and it turned out this way, but none of us suspected that this would happen.

Another hour has passed and Anna just messaged that she is on her way back so I get dressed and sit on the couch until she gets here. She drives up and runs in the house shouting that she has to pee, I just laughed at her. I walked to the car and got in so that we can leave and then she comes out and gets in too. We go to IKEA, which is about a forty-five minute drive from here so it's going to take a while.

We finally arrive and head inside. It was a pretty quick trip. We got a bed frame and mattress, and a little dresser for her clothes. It wasn't very expensive, so that was good, but the hard part will be putting all together later. We decided to stop by target and get her some simple sheets and a comforter. We also got her some clothes because we aren't sure how much clothes she is going to come with. The last thing was a jacket because it's been pretty cold lately.

On the way back to the house, the social worker called and let us know that all of Anna's training was already approved and that someone would be coming by on Monday to look at the house, and if everything is good, Cayenne can come on Wednesday. I was really excited because it was moving a lot faster than we thought it would, and it just means she has to be with strangers less amount of time. When we got home I started to put together her bed and dresser. It took a couple hours because of how many pieces there was, but I finally finished and got all the sheets on and ready for her to come. I put all the clothes we got her in the drawers and put a little stuffed animal I had by her pillows so she can have it when she gets here. I am so glad that she is going to be here soon. Then I can finally stop worrying about her and not knowing how she is doing. Even though she isn't my real sister, she is my family and I would do anything for family.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

It's monday morning and today is the day of the home visit. They are already on their way here and I'm pretty nervous. I know we will probably be fine, but I can't help it. Then I heard a knock at the door, so I run to go open it.

"Good Morning Julia, is Anna home?" The woman asks.

"Yes! I'm here!" Anna says as she comes to the door.

"Well, shall we get started?" The woman says.

"Of course, where would you like to start?" Anna says

"Just a tour of the whole place should do"

So we walk around the house and Anna shows her bedroom and the kitchen, and the bathrooms. Then we get to my room and Anna explains how Cayenne would stay in this room and we show her the bed and the clothes that we got her. She doesn't say much while she walks through, which is a little intimidating but I think we'll be okay. Once we finish showing her around the house we all go into the living room, and Anna tells me that I should just go wait in my room. I tried to object but she can be pretty assertive sometimes, so I go to my room.

After about thirty minutes of waiting and texting Jacob of how nervous I am they are still talking. He is telling me not to worry and that they would let Cayenne come because there isn't anything wrong with the living situation. I believe him and I know he is right, but there is still a part of me that will always freak out.

After about ten more minutes I hear them start to say goodbye, so I decided to go out so that I could also say goodbye to the woman, thinking now I never got her name.

"Bye Julia, it was nice meeting you." She says.

"It was nice meeting you too, hope you have a great rest of your day!" I say

Then we close the door and I look to Anna to try and see on her face if it was good or bad news. He face was expressionless.

"So? What did she say?" I ask

"WE PASSED!" She said.

I let out the breath I didn't even realize I was holding and I run to Anna and give her a huge hug. Then all of a sudden I started to cry.

"Why are you crying Julia?" Anna asked.

"I don't know. I'm just really happy. I need to go tell Jacob!" I say with a big smile.

I ran to my room and called Jacob to tell him the good news. He was so excited for me and asked if he could come over when Cayenne comes, and I told him yes and that he should come over tonight to celebrate. He agreed and said he would be here at five.

It's almost five and Jacob text me and said he was on his way, so he should be here any minute. I'm really excited, I haven't seen him since our date. Just as I was thinking this, there was a knock at the door, so I went to get it and there he was. I hugged him and invited him inside. Anna wasn't home, she went to the store, so she said that he isn't allowed in my room until she gets back. We go and sit on the sofa and just talk for awhile. I told him about Cayenne and all the stuff we got for her and when she was coming so he knew when to be here, which will be Wednesday afternoon. I also told him how I was nervous to go back to school after winter break, but he assured me that there is nothing to worry about.

After a while it seemed like Jacob was getting nervous and he was acting a little weird and I had no idea why. After a few minutes he said that he had something to ask me.

"What is it?" I asked

"Well, we have cared about each other for a long time, and you know that I love you, so I wanted to ask you if you wanted to be my girlfriend." He said.

"Ummm, no." I said. He was in shock of what I just said and just stared at me.

"I'm just kidding, of course I would!" I say

He let out a sigh of relief and we hugged really tight, and when he let go, he looked into my eyes and softly pressed his lips against mine. Just as this happened I heard Anna's car pull into the driveway so I slowly pulled away and said, "Anna's here."

"Man, she really knows how to ruin a moment." He says as we both laugh.

We helped her bring in the groceries and all had dinner together and Jacob and I talked for a while and just enjoyed our time together. I never thought in a million years that I would ever have a boyfriend, but if it were to be anyone, I'm glad it's him. I love him.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Today is the day that Cayenne gets here. It's already noon, and I'm ready for her to be here already. They said she would be here at 2, so I told Jacob to come at 1. I kill time by watching TV until he gets here, then I hear a knock at the door. I go to open it and it's Cayenne.

"You're here early!" I say as I lift her into my arms and hug her so tightly.

"There was less traffic than we thought, I hope we didn't interrupt anything." The social worker says.  
"No, of course not. I was just killing time until 2." "Anna!" I called

"What happened!" She runs out of her room and says. Then she saw Cayenne and ran up to her and hugged her as I did.

The social worker made sure that she got settled in and then left. A few minutes after she left, Jacob came and he was surprised that Cayenne was already here. He gave her a big hug and was playing with us for a while until we went out to eat.

Finally everyone I loved was together and happy. I never thought that I would ever have this much love surrounding me, and not to mention it's real love that I've never had before. I will never take advantage of the time I have with these people, because if there is anything I've learned it's that time shouldn't be wasted on people who don't care about you the way you care about them.

Ten Years Later

As I stood in front of a classroom full of students I said "When I grew up, I didn't have the best experience with my father. He was abusive, both physically and verbally, but with some help of some special people, I got out and became better. All of that time thinking I was worthless and nothing made me defensive and strong-willed because I thought I knew best and if I thought I didn't need anything, you would know because I made my opinions clear. I wasn't always the nicest to the people trying to help me, but they knew what I was going through and didn't blame me or get angry. They were patient and caring. The most special of those people was an old teacher and a new friend. They got me out of a bad situation and showed me what love really means and that I was worth loving. But those bad experiences, no matter how traumatizing, made me the best social worker I could possibly be. I turned my experiences into a passion, and I may have struggled through school and just life in general, but I didn't let that stop me, and I graduated with honors and went on to college and got a masters degree. If there is anything you can take from today, it's that the struggles you are going through now will make you stronger and if you use them the right way, you can have the life you dream of."

"Please students, let's thank Mrs. Julia Miller for coming out and sharing her story with us." The teacher says.

Following that all the students say thank you and I thank them for letting me come and speak to them, and I started walking to my car. On the way I got a call from Jacob saying that he was ready to go to dinner with everyone, so I told him I would be on my way soon.

I went home and my son Jay came crawling up to me and I gave him a big hug. I called for Jacob and he came out all dressed and ready to go. He gave me a quick kiss and got Jay so that I could change really quick. We are celebrating Cayenne's 20th birthday today and I cannot believe she is that old already, seems like just yesterday she was 10 and barely getting to Anna's house, but a lot has happened since then, I am married to the love of my life and a mom. It's still crazy to think about all the changes that have come to my life.

I finished getting ready and we went to Anna's house. Her and Cayenne were already there and as soon as we walked in all they wanted to do was play with Jay. Just seeing all of my family together warms my heart. I went through a lot to have this family and I know that I will have them forever. The End.


End file.
